Worrell 1000 Leg Five Finish
Tybee Island, GA
5/12/2000, 8:00 PM

By Zack Leonard

Leg 5 to Tybee Island shook things up today. The fleet bobbed and feinted for an hour and a half before the sea-breeze filled, but the sailors made just enough headway to buy the crucial separation that determined the winners and losers. Loos and Heemskerk led a pack that diverged from the shore along the rum line to Tybee. This course would bring the boats as much as 8 miles off shore. Smyth and Struble, sailing Blockade Runner, fought with Dryland and Waterhouse of Rudee's for the upper hand on the shore route. The two groups diverged in the light fluky winds that preceded the sea-breeze and were almost out of sight of each other by the time the wind filled.

Tybee beach was still littered with sun worshippers as a lime green spinnaker appeared on the horizon. Speculation was rampant. Was it the Aussies or the Dutch? Both fly green chutes. As the boat approached the beach a cheer went up from the Australian camp as the sponsor logo became clear. Smyth's black chute was close behind followed by another green spinnaker. Smyth crossed the line 4 minutes and 12 seconds behind the Aussies to put the two in a virtual dead heat for second place overall. What's more, the green chute of the Dutch seemed to be about 16 minutes behind Smyth, which would put all three leaders in a virtual deadlock. The third boat was hard to identify by any means other than spinnaker color as it came reaching straight towards the shore. As the boat surfed up on the shore an embarrassed English shore crew from Team Sunnucks ran to meet his boat and blurted out "I didn't think it was them"! The English were followed by Kevin Smith and Glenn Holmes of First Response, Carl Roberts and Sandra Tartaglino of Guidant and finally by Loos and Heemskerk, 34 minutes behind the leaders.

Heemskerk was disappointed, but not demoralized, "we were just looking at the compass and sailing the rum line, the angle changed as the sea-breeze filled and by then we couldn't see the other boats. But we had a lot of current against us and maybe waves too. We thought we were in the lead, but when we saw the others we said oh, this is not good." Smyth, Dryland, Sunnucks and Pierce all sailed the shore route. The shore route is longer, but there was less current, stronger breeze, and it was a reach the whole way. When the sea-breeze filled the boats on the rum line were running deep, sailing much slower. Mark Self of team Sunnucks said, "We were down the pan, then the wind shifts and we're looking good."

The finish was beautiful in the sunset. The beach was still packed with people who didn't want to leave the cool breeze that offered relief from the stifling heat. It is 8:55 PM now and 3 boats are just finishing. Tomorrow morning will offer a respite to the fleet. The day will be reserved for relaxation, rehydration and attention to overdue boat work. At 6 PM the first night leg will begin. The morning report will update you on any news from the late arrivals and fill you in on the happenings around the beach.